Page 53 of Princess of Thieves

“She okay?” Rob asks, glancing at Will. Will breaks his gaze on me, looks at him, smirking.

“Ask her.”

I blow out a long, wavering breath. My heart rate is somewhere near apoplectic, my skin sticky and warm and humming like I’m radioactive. I feel...exposed. A little cold.

“Here.” Rob hustles to the corner to retrieve his discarded shirt, then wraps it around my shoulders. He steps back—still completely naked himself—and runs a hand through his hair, almost self-conscious.

“Well,” he says.

“Mm.” Will, still breathing hard, takes the space on the couch next to me, turning my chin to face him, scanning me with genuine concern on his features. “You all right?”

I nod. “Yes,” I say, after a moment. And smile. “Forgot to use my words there.”

Will smiles, too, a little bashful. “Ah, yeah, well...”

“It’s fine,” I say quickly. “It...helped.” I lick my lips and look up at Rob.

He just nods, slowly. “Well...good.” He lifts a hand, almost absentminded, to his shoulder, the one with the scar—the one where I nailed him with that crossbow—and rubs it. Then, as if he noticed what he was doing, he looks at his hand and chuckles. “Guess no one can hit me where it hurts like you, pretty lady.”

In that moment, seeing him there, like that, it all streams together, all the anger and fear and worry and passion and safetyand whatever the fuck else these men in the forest can make me feel, and engulfs me.

But I emerge. Still me. A little scarred, maybe.

But scarred means healed.

Wordless, I get to my feet, slip in front of Rob, and press a kiss to his shoulder.

Chapter Fourteen

If the night with LJ was about getting something out of my system or making sure I didn’t leave that particular stone unturned, then this was something else—something transformative, something I could never leave behind.

“Look at her,” Will says, rolling onto one arm and staring down at me, propped up on his elbow. “She’s supposed to be the one in charge, and she’s all tuckered out.”

The living room was just the start. Then we went to clean up and got a second wind in Will’s room. And part of a third. Finally, I had to tap out—for hydration, if for nothing else.

“Well, it’s tough to be the boss,” Rob says from my right, his hands behind his head. He’s staring up at the ceiling. “God, I wish I smoked. I could use a cigarette. Wore me out too.”

I press my lips together hard and clench my jaw against a giggle. I’m exhausted and yet strangely energized, reanimated in a way I never thought I’d feel again. Here I am, lying between the two of them on Will’s silk sheets, absolutely limp with satisfaction.

A horrifying thought crosses my mind—if my father could see me now—but I banish it. Not like he didn’t have his secrets too. Not like everyone doesn’t have layers. I was never going to be his sweet little girl forever, just like one day I realized he wasn’t the all-perfect, almighty hero I’d thought he was when I was a kid.

In a way, learning all this, being with Rob and the rest of them, it gave me something I never would have gotten otherwise. Not a good thing, not a bad thing—but the truth. A chance to see the world, and the people in it, for what they really are. And if that isn’t a goddamn gift...

My mind jumps ahead to another topic.

Another gift. Of sorts. Something else I never would’ve found out otherwise.

“Penny for your thoughts, greasemonkey?” Will asks, idly walking two fingers up my arm like a little mountain climber.

I shrug away and swat at him. “That’s below market rate,” I say. “Come back with a better offer.”

“You’re dealing with an heiress now, Scarlet,” Rob says, flopping over onto his stomach so he can stare at me, chin on his hands. “Anything out of that sweet little head is going to cost you a mint.”

“Then I’m going to need a loan,” Will says, lifting his eyebrows at Rob.

I can’t help it—I actually let out a giggle. “Here, I’ll give you a freebie,” I say, shuffling up a bit so I’m sitting. “I’m just thinking about all this...stuff. How we don’t ever really know our past, uncovering who people really are, blah blah blah.”

“Blah blah blah?” Rob says. “I pour my heart out to you, and that’s how you sum it up after the fact?”

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